Hospitals in the U.S. continue to make progress in the fight against central line-associated bloodstream infections and some surgical site infections, but struggled to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) between 2010 and 2011, according to a new report issued by the…
Adding a bundle of low-cost interventions to surveillance significantly reduces rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in intensive care units in developing countries, researchers found in an international study featured in published reports. “This study is among the first few that have…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is offering a free, web-streamed training course on reporting health care associated infections (HAIs) on October 2-4, 2012 from 8am-5pm EST. The program focuses on reporting and analyzing HAI data through the CDC’s National…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national surveillance system for health care associated infections (HAIs) is moving to a new electronic reporting method that should be considerably less labor intensive for infection preventionists. The CDC plans to use the Direct clinical messaging…
Infectious disease epidemiologists are ramping up outbreak surveillance as tens of thousands of people from throughout the world come to London for the Olympic Games. Some 660,000 international visitors and 70,000 athletes and staff will descend on London for the Games, held July…
Infection preventionists must “draw the line” for patient safety by identifying and reporting infections despite pressure from consumers, colleagues and administrators in a new age of transparency, a leading health care epidemiologist urged. Allan Morrison, MD, epidemiologist at INOVA Fairfax…
Though the risk of seroconversion to bloodborne infection remains “rare but real,” it is striking to see how many health care workers are still enduring the agony and uncertainy of needlesticks and sharps injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and…
The `silent epidemic’ is about to get rocked, as public health officials are on the verge of recommending that millions of Americans get a one-time test for hepatitis C virus regardless of risk factors. Calling HCV “an unrecognized health crisis,”…
Closely tracking occupational infections among health care workers helps Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville detect clusters and prevent further transmission. Tuberculosis remains the primary infectious disease threat to health care workers, with exposures occurring from delays in diagnosis, according…
As a key complement to its new antibiotic use tracking system, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in a pilot program to prevent overuse and misuse of antibiotics in hospitals….